page_title: Chemins de fer de l'Ouest
section_title: Accidents
hierarchical_section_title: Chemins de fer de l'Ouest / History / Accidents
context_page_description: The Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Ouest, often referred to simply as L'Ouest or Ouest, was an early French railway company which operated from the years 1855 through 1909.
context_section_description: On a Sunday in May 1842, one of the worst accidents in French railway history happened near Meudon: 164 victims; the 55 dead were burnt alive (see Versailles train crash).  After this incident the company no longer locked doors on passenger coaches.
  Montparnasse derailment: On 22 October 1895 an express train originating from Granville traversed Montparnasse station, ploughed into the buffers, wrecked the station building's front wall and dropped to the ground on the street below.  The only fatality was the wife of a newspaper vendor, filling in for her husband (who had gone to get the evening newspapers), who was killed by falling masonry from the wall.
  In 1881 there were 2064 railway related accidents: 185 derailings, 190 collisions, 692 accidents on the line. 512 passengers died in these accidents, 1/10 of those who died in accidents on stagecoaches.
  Lists of rail accidents
caption: A painting of the 1842 accident
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